# Nude Bea Arthur painting sells for 1.9Mil... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 16, 2013, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-bea-arthur-painting-sells-for-1-9mil/658519 "2013-05-16T16:19:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-bea-arthur-painting-sells-for-1-9mil/658519/21 "2013-05-16T20:38:43Z")
John Currin has done some good paintings but this isn’t one of them however it’s expensive because he’s done some good paintings. ‘Money is truth, truth money,—that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.’ ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-bea-arthur-painting-sells-for-1-9mil/658519/22 "2013-05-16T20:38:49Z")
I don’t see anything really wrong with the painting, but I have trouble seeing it as worth $1.9 million. The artwork is nothing special, hell, I bet there are MUCH better fakes out the on the Internet. Very average sort of painting. ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-bea-arthur-painting-sells-for-1-9mil/658519/23 "2013-05-16T20:45:54Z")
> [@Maastricht](#): > > You people really need to see some more _real_ bodies. > > Here’s the site [shapeofamother.com, breast section](http://theshapeofamother.com/category/breasts/). (NSFW, two-click rule in effect). > > It’s a non-pornographic site where real women post nude pictures of themselves after childbirth, to make peace with their changed bodies. No kidding. I don’t get the equation “not sexually stimulating to me=gross.” Believe it or not, you can look at pictures of people without judging them solely on their fuckability. And aside from that, I think the picture is fairly attractive, and the worst thing isn’t any of the nude bits, but her hair. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-bea-arthur-painting-sells-for-1-9mil/658519/24 "2013-05-16T20:47:53Z")
I think that, at some point, the price of art becomes less about the art itself, and more a matter of showing off that you have the money to spend a couple million on something without practical use. ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-bea-arthur-painting-sells-for-1-9mil/658519/25 "2013-05-16T23:50:31Z")
At least it didn’t show her dick. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2013, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-bea-arthur-painting-sells-for-1-9mil/658519/26 "2013-05-17T03:29:36Z")
What bothers me is that painting sold for twice what Eric Clapton’s “Blackie” went for at auction. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2013, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-bea-arthur-painting-sells-for-1-9mil/658519/27 "2013-05-17T12:20:36Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > What bothers me is that painting sold for twice what Eric Clapton’s “Blackie” went for at auction. Why? Heck, Jerry Garcia’s 14-pound, poorly-constructed-yet-iconic guitar Tiger went for more than Clapton’s Strat - so it goes. More importantly - Blackie is an iconic, well-crafted object that has acquired value as Art. Currin’s work is straight-up no-value-as-object, Art-as-Idea Art. Apparently, his Idea (theme in his works) has been taken seriously enough in the Art world that his paintings command a premium…very different world vs. historic guitars… ---
**Author:** ![D18](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@D18](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D18)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2013, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-bea-arthur-painting-sells-for-1-9mil/658519/28 "2013-05-17T17:13:03Z")
Currin is a remarkably inconsistent painter. I saw a retrospective of his in Montreal a couple of years ago, and the paintings ranged from among the most impressive pieces I’ve ever seen to poorly conceived and executed dreck. Treat all links below as NSFW, although they are legitimate art. Just as context - he is frequently all about the slight grotesque. In this one, he takes an otherwise lovely painting of a young woman and imposes ridiculous hands on her. I saw this in person, and the effect is incredibly disconcerting. But admittedly, the title is completely accurate! [Big Hands](http://artnews.org/gagosian/?exi=25937) He had done many of his wife - sometimes, distorted, sometimes not. This one is lovely and masterfully executed. [Honeymoon Nude](http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/currin-honeymoon-nude-t07519) This one is a characterture. [Hobo](http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.kirbykendrick.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/The-Hobo-1999-John-Currin-b.-1962.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.kirbykendrick.com/blog/behold-america/the-hobo-1999-john-currin-b-1962/&h=700&w=554&sz=206&tbnid=L6URm2ZW7j-3VM:&tbnh=107&tbnw=85&zoom=1&usg=__eK2QAXVGu0ieIlfxwJBQrs4CxZg=&docid=TmLWnY3akTuFHM&sa=X&ei=umWWUc3ZK4S-0AG0q4F4&ved=0CEQQ9QEwBQ&dur=1836) One of his best combinations of painting mastery and eroticism is Purple Bra, which really, really isn’t safe for work. But a masterpiece. [Purple Bra](http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/features/saltz/saltz12-18-06_detail.asp?picnum=2) So, it’s kind of interesting where he was going with Bea Arthur. On the one hand, it is a very faithful depiction of a middle aged woman, nude. On the other hand, well, the comments up thread suggest it’s being taken as something different. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2013, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-bea-arthur-painting-sells-for-1-9mil/658519/29 "2013-05-17T17:28:34Z")
> [@D18](#): > > In this one, he takes an otherwise lovely painting of a young woman and imposes ridiculous hands on her. I saw this in person, and the effect is incredibly disconcerting. But admittedly, the title is completely accurate! > > [Big Hands](http://artnews.org/gagosian/?exi=25937) I find her tiny head to be more disconcerting. It’s easy to imagine that those arms belong to a guy just out of frame. ---
**Author:** ![kirk1168](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@kirk1168](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kirk1168)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2013, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-bea-arthur-painting-sells-for-1-9mil/658519/30 "2013-05-18T14:20:54Z")
“We want naked pictures of Bea Arthur and a football helmet filled with cottage cheese.” “Bea Arthur… outstanding.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nude-bea-arthur-painting-sells-for-1-9mil/658519.md?page=1)